Building Professional Online Relationships and Presence in 2015

Sometimes your name can produce search engine results that will shock you. Perhaps someone used your identity to purchase items and ran up a huge debt. Or maybe your photo and name are being used by another person on social media platforms. No matter what the case, if you try to get a new job and the company you’ve interviewed with searches your name online, they may put your resume in the reject category.

Experts at Forbes suggest making sure your online information (once it’s cleaned up) is toward the top of the search engine results so that potential employers can easily find you and see what you have to offer.

By getting some help to analyze your online footprint, you can make sure your online presence is exactly what you need and want it to be. Experts in online reputation services scout online, identify potential problems and quickly resolve them. So why is this important when you are seeking a new role or professional relationship?

Hiring managers want to be sure they select someone who will do the job required of them without associating the company with any bad publicity. Employers also want to be sure that their employees are trustworthy and are not hiding anything that could compromise the company or its position. According to Business Insider, many companies are now checking applicants’ personal websites, LinkedIn and social media pages.

Building a professional online presence involves being absolutely certain that you appear to the reader as you would wish. That rogue forum post in which you voiced some personal (and not particularly kind) opinions 10 years ago can come back to bite you today. And don’t assume that the so-called privacy settings on some of the social media sites will afford you any protection. Your LinkedIn or Facebook relationship contacts can see far more than the public. Do you really know them all?

Current statistics show that many people are now engaging in a practice called personal branding. With the help of experts or even on their own, many people are investing the time and money to put their best face forward in the online world. Personal branding is a good way to create a positive online reputation and involves creating a social media site or personal website that spins everything you have to offer in a good light.

Experts recommend placing all of your information in one easy-to-access location and letting prospective employers know where to go to view your online background. It also protects you should someone else use your personal information for other purposes. However you may choose to present yourself, always monitor what photos and personal information is posted online. Create some Google alerts for your name in case anyone is misusing your identity or posting negative material about you.

A simple Google search of your own name is the perfect place to start in building your online reputation and in securing that new business relationship.